


Rumor Has It

by FairySomber



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:27:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24821572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairySomber/pseuds/FairySomber
Summary: It had been a brief moment of panic during a very stressful day, and now everyone thinks he is dating Wangho.
Relationships: Han "Peanut" Wang-ho/Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok
Comments: 26
Kudos: 61





	1. One Small Lie

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on the first 2 chapters of this story for so long, unmotivated to finish. Hopefully posting this helps get some inspiration going lol.
> 
> I took a quick look at it again before posting it, but wasn't too in depth with it, so please forgive any typos/grammatical errors.

In Sanghyeok’s defense, it had been a very stressful day so far. The star mid laner hadn’t slept well the night before, one of the keys on his favorite keyboard had stopped working, and he had run out of his favorite tea. On top of all that, he had been dealing with a particularly annoying fan who just wouldn’t leave him alone, despite his intense desire to have a quiet meal by himself before meeting up with some friends at his hotel.

Said fan was dogging him with questions even as he entered the hotel lobby, and he was straining his mind for ways to dismiss her as politely as possible, even though she had ignored all of his previous attempts.

“Insook,” he tried patiently, “it’s been so nice having your company today, but I’m planning on catching up with some people today. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather visit your other friends on this fine day?”

It looks like he was still being too polite after all.

“Of course not, Sangie,” she crooned. “Your cousin is out of town all weekend and I have nothing else to do! Besides, she made me promise to keep you company while you were back home in Seoul while she couldn’t. She feels really terrible about it you know, and I’d absolutely love to meet some of your friends! You never talk about yourself, after all.”

Which was what made the current situation all the worse. Normally when his female fans encroached on his personal space, he could curtly excuse himself and not really worry about the ramifications. Unfortunately, Insook was a friend of a cousin that he had grown up with but had rarely seen ever since he started playing pro. He knew that his cousin didn’t mind so much, but she often included her friend as if she were one of the family, no doubt at Insook’s insistence.

She wasn’t even _interested_ in League, to add insult to injury.

“Hyung!” a familiar voice called out from somewhere on his right.

“Wangho,” he greeted, hoping his relief at the sight of the other pro wasn’t too obvious. The short jungler, sporting a pink hoodie and black jeans, wandered over to them. He gave the girl attempting to hang onto the mid laner’s arm a derisive glance, all too familiar with her ilk.

“Oh, Wangho Han? You used to be teammates with Sangie, right?” she asked with mild interest. Sanghyeok saw Wangho raise his eyebrows speculatively at the use of the nickname, and sent him a sideways glance. Sanghyeok just shook his head imperceptibly. He’d tried to discourage the use of said name, but the girl was difficult. In all honesty, it was badly grating on his nerves, especially in his tired state.

“Yes, we used to play on T1 together,” Wangho replied dismissively, and then continued, “You’re early, Sanghyeok. That’s so unlike you, the others won’t be here for another few minutes.”

He had come early in hopes of shaking his tagalong, but it had evidently been a fool’s errand. “So, who was able to come? I know Jaewan has nothing to do these days, but I’m not sure about anyone else.”

“Not everyone. Besides Jaewan there’s-,” Wangho started, before being cut off by the excited squeals of the girl attached to his arm.

“Oh, you mean one of your friends is Wangho?”

“Yes,” he replied exasperatedly. Wasn’t it obvious? For such a purported fan of his, she apparently knew very little.

“Hm,” she said thoughtfully, then swung around to face him. “Hey, Sangie? You like me, right?”

“What?” The question caught him off guard. Where had THAT come from? There was no honest answer that wouldn’t offend her. “Well, you’re an excellent friend to my cousin, certainly. It was very thoughtful of you to keep me company today in her place,” he hedged, dodging what he was suspecting the question was leading up to.

“Hmm, then how would you like to be my boyfriend?” she asked with a stunning smile. Well, he’d expected for his seed of suspicion to have taken a little longer to sprout. So much for subtlety.

Something inside of Sanghyeok snapped. It had been a very long day, and for all of his attempts at politeness, this was the one fan he’d been unable tooshake. So he did something he very rarely ever did.

He panicked.

It was stupid. He simply doesn’t panic. It wasn’t something he ever did, yet here he was.

Not even entirely aware of what he was doing, he frantically grabbed for the nearest individual, and blurted, “I’m sorry, but I’m already in a relationship, you see.”

Before the words even left his mouth, he knew that they were ludicrous. No one would believe the bold-faced lie he just told.

That was when he remembered that the nearest individual was Wangho, and paled. He had intended to grab the nearest girl, but when he paid closer attention to whose arm he had in his grasp, it definitely belonged to Wangho. In a moment of disorientation, he’d mistaken the short and thin stature out of the corner of his eyes to be that of a female, though he would have been slaughtered if he had said so out loud.

He was damned either way now. It was suicide – not to mention rude – to openly mistake Wangho for a girl, even if it was mostly due to his poor peripheral vision while wearing glasses, and equally reckless to face the woman in front of him without some sort of shield to fend off her advances. Might as well try to sell it.

“Yes, um…Wangho and I…are quite attached. I’m sorry I can’t return your feelings.”

Sanghyeok was suddenly incredibly grateful for Wangho’s underreaction. The only sign of his surprise when his former teammate had pulled him in had been a slight widening of his eyes and a brief stiffening of his muscles when he’d made his announcement. He prayed that the younger jungler wouldn’t be offended and would go along with it.

“You owe me a day, whenever I want,” Wangho muttered under his breath after a long silence, briefly forcing a strained smile onto his face for the benefit of the girl in front of them. That was something they had started doing when they were on T1together. They would take turns spending the day doing whatever activity the other wanted to, but they rarely had the opportunity to do it anymore.

Sanghyeok thought he might faint from relief. “Fine,” he whispered in response.

“And a coffee.”

He simply nodded, just grateful that Wangho wasn’t going to kill him, or worse, reveal his lie.

It had been a long shot – one that he hadn’t really expected to work. Insook was surprised, then, when she merely blinked, her mouth formed into an ‘o’, and then broke into a radiant smile. “Sangie! Why didn’t you say so sooner? I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable by pursuing him like that,” she added, addressing Wangho, who thankfully stayed silent. “Congratulations! I’m sure you two will be happy together. Ah, it all makes sense now!”

What? Sanghyeok stared dumbly as she continued her monologue of speculation and apologies and well wishes. Was it really so easy? She was just going to give up on him, just like that, and all it had taken was one slightly outrageous fib? No tears or wails or screaming declarations of love?”

“Yes, well, we’re supposed to be meeting up with friends, so we can’t really stay around and chat,” he started, but she waved him off with a giggle.

“Don’t worry, Sangie, I was just going to leave anyway. You take good care of Wangho now, you hear? And don’t worry, I won’t tell your parents before you’re ready to come out to them.” With a wink, a careless wave, and a beaming smile, she skipped over to the hotel entrance. Apparently, it really was going to be that simple.

“Whatttt? It’s official? They’re finally going out?!” A familiar voice exclaimed from behind as she retreated from sight. “About time!”

Sanghyeok’s heart plummeted to the bottom of his stomach. When had they arrived? Great, now he was going to have to endure all sorts of teasing and rubbing from his former teammates over his dilemma. He hurriedly dropped his arm from Wangho’s shoulder. The younger had yet to say anything else or properly change his expression.

“Of course not, Seunghoon,” he chided, hoping that completely sidestepping the issue might spare him some ridicule. “And that is not the proper way to greet someone you haven’t seen in months.”

Alongside his former top laner were Jaewan, Haneul, and Sungu.

“But this is great news! You guys heard too, didn’t you?! Wangho and Sanghyeok at last!” the hyperactive boy hollered with a wide grin.

“Very funny. We’re not actually going out. That was just to get rid of a fangirl,” Sanghyeok explained, and then frowned. “And what do you mean ‘at last’?”

Haneul walked up and playfully punched Wangho “How could you not tell us?” he asked in a mock betrayed voice.

Wangho shook his head “Sanghyeok is telling the truth.”

Jaewan gave them both understanding smiles. “You two don’t need to be shy, really. I understand you like your privacy, but we’re all friends here.”

“Uhm, yeah, congratulations,” Sungu offered timidly, though he was grinning too.

Wangho threw him an exasperated glance, but Sanghyeok honestly didn’t know what to do. He was at a loss, but it wasn’t as if he wasn’t regularly the butt of their jokes.

“Really though, most people try to take a break after worlds, but you two got right into it huh?” Seunghoon teased.

“Seunghoon!” Haneul scolded.

Sanghyeok dismissed the jab, hoping that if he ignored their friend’s wild speculations they’d forget about the whole silly situation with Wangho and try not to tease him about it. “Anyway, how are the vacation plans coming?”

“Oh, it’s going well, but we can discuss that after we get to the restaurant.” Jaewan suggested.

“Are we heading there now?” Wangho asked.

“Yup! Let’s go now!” Seunghoon replied.

“It would be an opportune time to leave now that the rush of people getting off of work is over,” Haneul agreed.

With that, they headed out onto the street. Sanghyeok allowed himself to fall to the back of the group, where Wangho was dragging his feet.

“It’s pretty rare to see you flustered like that, hyung,” Wangho commented with a smirk as soon as they’d fallen behind enough to be out of easy earshot.

“She was a friend of the family,” Sanghyeok replied tiredly. “I am afraid my usual tactics for dealing with overzealous fans can’t work on her without causing a great deal of trouble.”

“And this isn’t a great deal of trouble? We’re never going to hear the end of it.”

“I wasn’t aware that the others had arrived while we were talking,” he explained, then paused and added, “I’m extremely sorry to inconvenience you like that. I sort of panicked. Thank you for going along with it.”

Wangho shrugged. “I’ve tried the same stunt before when cornered by fans. They never believe me for some reason though.” His smirk grew. “You still owe me a day, and a coffee.”

“Whenever you want.”

Sanghyeok thought that was the end of the matter, convinced that his friends would let the matter drop now that it was obvious that there was nothing more going on and that the situation had been exactly as he’d stated. They’d probably make a few more laughs at his expense later, but it would slip from memory as soon as the next amusing thing happened.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any ideas that you would like to see implemented in the story, or just wanna chat, pm me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/FairySomber1)


	2. The Rumor Spreads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanghyeok wonders why no one believes him when he tells them it was just a lie, and a few fans learn about the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting the first chapter definitely helped the ideas flow lol, wrote ~5000 words this week, so you guys have some more to look forward to at least :D

They soon arrived at a nearby sushi restaurant, and sat down at the table Jaewan reserved for them. After placing their orders, the topic strayed back to their upcoming vacation.

“I’m honestly surprised that everyone is going to be coming. It’s going to be a great reunion.” Haneul said.

“Yes, it will be the first time in a while that we’ve managed to get everyone in the same place,” Jaewan agreed.

“19 months,” Sungu cut in. “Not that I’ve been keeping track…”

“Well, we have managed to get together a few times, but there’s always been a few people missing, usually Sanghyeok and Junsik,” Jaewan said “Wangho has also been extremely difficult to get a hold of recently.”

Has it really been that long? He supposed it had. Sanghyeok hadn’t seen Junsik or Sungu for quite some time now that he thought about it, though he always tried to catch up with his former teammates when they were in the country.

It would be good to have the old team together again. He remembered that group fondly despite not having won worlds that year.

Chatter dissolved into the usual catch-up fare. Soon Haneul turned to Wangho and Sanghyeok and asked, “So, would you be forthcoming with more details about your relationship? How long has it been going on? Who confessed first? What are your future plans? How serious is it?”

Sanghyeok was momentarily gob-smacked, having temporarily forgotten about his blunder earlier in the day amidst all of the other discussion. “I already explained that it was just a lie to discourage an enthusiastic fan. Laugh if you must, but I’m sure any of you would have done the same.”

Seunghoon sent him a sly grin. “So not ready to come out yet, huh? What about you Wangho?”

“Hyung just owes me big time,” came the reply.

“Oh, I understand, you must be a bit embarrassed, having us find out like that,” Jaewan soothed, patting Wangho’s back. “You really don’t have to talk about it if you’re uncomfortable. We’re all just very curious. And don’t worry, everyone’s happy for you.”

Sanghyeok could feel the stress that had been mounting earlier in the day starting to return like an invisible pressure in the back of his head. “Really, Jaewan, I wouldn’t lie to any of you about this.”

“I can’t believe Wangho’s taken now! He grew up so fast even though he’s still so small!” Seunghoon suddenly wailed, draping himself all over the smaller boy.

“Shut up! And get off of me.”

“But you’re still the smallest!” Seunghoon remarked with a zany grin.

“Seunghoon,” Sanghyeok chided, when it looked like Wangho might have lost access to oxygen.

Seunghoon practically dropped the younger boy, a look of realization passing over his face. Sanghyeok didn’t even want to know what it meant now.

“Oh, I have to tell Junsik!” Seunghoon exclaimed, immediately reaching for his phone. “He’ll be so excited!”

“I already let him know, Seunghoon,” Sungu reported. “He was quite regretful to not be present for the revelation.”

Grand, so now everyone would be in on the joke. Well, he supposed he didn’t typically give his friends much fodder to work with, so he could put up for it for now. He could take the blunt of his mistake, but he was starting to feel guilty for dragging Wangho into it.

Something about the entire exchange nagged at the back of his mind, though. It was hard to put his finger on it, but Sanghyeok definitely felt like he was missing something.

Their food then arrived, thankfully distracting his friends before they could start calling everyone they knew to spread his embarrassing tale. For a couple of minutes pleasant silence reigned at the table, save for a slew of compliments for the sushi.

Partway through his second helping, he spied some girls at the entrance, peering in. His eyes widened and he nearly choked. Not more fans!

After a moment, he realized that they weren’t pointing at him, but at the boy sitting next to him. Ah, they were Wangho’s fans. That was a relief. After the day he had, he didn’t think he’d been able to handle another round. He truly appreciated his fans, and he always tried to be polite… but not when he’d had such a long day. Especially not when they randomly tried to date him, either. Something about just a little bit of fame seemed to short-circuit the brains of a small sect of the population.

The pair of girls scurried over, tittering between themselves. Sanghyeok subtly nudged his companion to warn him of their approach. Wangho let out a small sigh before turning around, as though he already knew the fate waiting for him.

“You’re Peanut, right?” the taller of the two asked. They both looked to be in high school.

“Yes, I am.”

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you! I’m your biggest fan! I’ve been watching all of your matches ever since you became a pro!”

They’d started crowding in as they heaped adulation upon the jungler, when Seunghoon leaned back from his meal, grinning at the pair of fans. “Hey, don’t get too close! He and Faker are an item now! He’s off limits, girls!”

Sanghyeok resisted the urge to groan and bury his head in his hands.

“Huh? Faker?” They glanced around the table and then looked closer at the people at the table., realization dawning on their faces after a long moment. “Oh! All of you guys as well! We’re very sorry we didn’t notice you guys.”

“It’s quite alright,” Sanghyeok replied, though secretly wishing that they would have never noticed.

They spent a moment looking back and forth between himself and Wangho before blushing dark red. The shorter girl bowed deeply and blurted, “We’re sorry! We didn’t mean to interrupt. Could we just have a photo with you guys, please?”

“Of course,” Wangho consented, and they waved down a waiter to help them snap a photo with everyone.

“Thank you very much!” they said in unison. “And congratulations!” Giggling, they exited the restaurant.

“Seunghoon,” Sanghyeok exasperated, “Was that really necessary?” This was taking the whole joke way too far. Didn’t his friends understand what would happen if this news started being taken seriously?

“What do you mean? I didn’t want you getting jealous,” the top laner teased with a wink.

“I’m surprised your fans didn’t recognize you first,” Sungu stated.

“Well, technically they were Wangho’s fans,” Jaewan said hurriedly, as though sensing his friend’s irritation.

“Who cares? They’re gone now,” Wangho announced, reaching for another piece of sushi. “Your idea works really well, hyung. I feel like they would have stayed here until we left otherwise.”

Sanghyeok didn’t have a response for that. Fortunately, a family of four entered the restaurant then, causing a bit of ruckus and distracting the rest of the group.

Soon, Sanghyeok stood to leave. “I’ve had a long day, I’ll be heading off. It was good to see you all again.”

“Hmm, yes, we should be leaving soon too if we want to make the train,” Jaewan observed, standing with him, prompting the rest to leave the table as well. “Oh, Sungu and Wangho as well?”

“The hotel I’m staying at is really close to where the T1 housing is, so we can split the cab,” Wangho explained distractedly.

“And there’s little point in me staying if everyone else is gone,” Sungu added.

“Aw man, I was having so much fun too,” Seunghoon complained, but got up all the same.

“We’ll all be seeing each other in two weeks regardless,” Haneul soothed.

They exchanged brief goodbyes outside, and Sanghyeok called for a taxi on his phone. “Sorry about today, he apologized again to Wangho as the car started the journey back to their hotel. They had spent quite a while at the restaurant, it was already dark.

“I should thank you. It got rid of the fan girls really quick… it doesn’t mean you don’t still owe me a day and a coffee, though.”

Sanghyeok sent the younger pro a brief disapproving glance, before deciding that any sort of admonishment on his part would be highly hypocritical. Still, something about the entire evening bothered him. He really wished he could figure out what it was. Instead, he asked, “When are you leaving the hotel?”

“Not until next week, I plan on meeting up with a few other people before visiting home.”

Sanghyeok nodded. “I’ll also be visiting home before going on the vacation.”

The rest of the cab ride was silent, and they didn’t exchange anymore more than a ‘good night’ as Wangho was dropped off at the hotel.


	3. Not Just A Joke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaewan meets up with Sanghyeok and Wangho to give them their plane tickets, and Sanghyeok comes to a realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive any mistakes in grammar/spelling you see!

After spending a week and a half at his parent’s home, he finally returned to the T1 facilities. He had met up with Junsik, but decided to cut that rendezvous short when the marksman spent the entire time making thinly veiled suggestive comments about him and Wangho. The experience was enough to make him put off answering any phone calls from his friends, deciding to focus on grinding solo queue instead. He had a two-week holiday coming up after all, and he couldn’t afford to slack because of it.

Two days before they were supposed to leave for America, he received a call from Jaewan.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Sanghyeok, good, you weren’t answering your phone earlier and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get you in time,” Jaewan’s familiar voice echoed from the phone. “Sorry if this is a bit rushed, but I remembered that I still haven’t given you the tickets for the trip!”

“Can’t you just email them to me, or give them to me at the airport?”

“Well, I could, but I just want to give everyone their tickets individually in case! What if I was running late or got held up or something?! And, um… how would you like to meet up for coffee? Like old times, at the regular place? Is tomorrow afternoon okay?”

“Sure, we can,” he said, “but…is everything alright? You could have just left the tickets at the house, you live nearby, don’t you?”

“What’s wrong with wanting to catch up with an old friend?! I just wanted to talk about the trip. My god this is why I hate-”

“Okay okay, I got it. I’ll be there at 3 then?”

“Thanks for finally getting the hint. Oh! I almost forgot! Could you tell Wangho to come too? His is the only other ticket I’ve got left to deliver, and I can’t seem to get in touch with him at all. He never answers the phone! Or maybe you’d rather just take his ticket as well?”

He honestly hadn’t expected Jaewan to _still_ be teasing him about that whole affair – it had been nearly two weeks now, enough was enough. A little more curtly than he intended, he replied, “No, I’ll call him and let him know to come, provided that he’s free.”

“Right, thanks! Hey also, could you see if Sangho is free, it’d be nice to-”

Sanghyeok ended the call before he could finish, and he called Wangho. Sanghyeok didn’t understand what Jaewan’s problem was – when he called, Wangho picked up straight away. “Hyung?”

“Wangho-ya,” he greeted. “Jaewan has our tickets for the flight. Are you free tomorrow at 3?”

There were a few muffled voices in the background, and Sanghyeok thought he could hear a woman’s voice complaining.

“I don’t care!” Wangho could be heard saying, as though he were holding the phone away from his mouth. “Cancel that interview, I’ve got other plans!” After a moment, his voice became clear again. “Hyung? You still there? Yeah, 3 is fine.”

“If you have other commitments…” Sanghyeok began.

“No,” Wangho cut him off. “My agent wants me to do some other things, but I want a break. I’ll be there. Where are we meeting?”

“The coffee shop a few blocks from the old T1 housing complex, do you need the address?”

“No, I know it. You and Jaewan used to go there a lot, right?”

“That’s the one,” he confirmed, mildly surprised that Wangho had been that observant, much less able to remember such a trivial detail. “Have you been there before?”

“Once, you never invited me to go with you guys, and the coffee there kinda sucks.” There was more muffled shouting in the background. “Ahh, she’s complaining again. I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” The connection ended, and Sanghyeok plugged his phone back in to charge. He decided to get a few more games in, as it looked like he wasn’t going to be getting much done tomorrow afternoon.

He was the first to turn up at the coffee shop the next day, surprisingly enough. Jaewan had made a habit of being early for everything, but even more surprising was that the perpetually tardy Wangho was the next to arrive.

“Hey hyung,” the jungler greeted.

“Glad you could make it. Jaewan isn’t here yet, but we can wait inside,” Sanghyeok responded. He was pleased Wangho could come – as much as he valued Jaewan as a friend, he enjoyed Wangho’s company just a little bit more.

They took a booth by the window, both refraining from ordering, wanting to be polite and wait until Jaewan arrived.

The two chit-chatted until Jaewan walked past them, and Sanghyeok raised his hand to let the other know where they were. Sporting a relieved grin, his friend hurried over, spewing apologies as soon as he sat down. “I’m so sorry I’m late! I even left early but I got caught in traffic and now I’m somehow even later than Wangho!”

“It’s fine, Jaewan,” Sanghyeok assured him.

“I’m glad you could come, Wangho. Oh, that’s right, I have your tickets right here.” He fished them out of his pockets, and handed them the two thin envelopes. A waitress came over to them to take their order. She looked new, but then, the staff was bound to have changed in the many months since they had last been here.

“I’ll have a black coffee, please,” Jaewan ordered his usual.

“A green tea for me,” Sanghyeok added.

The waitress turned to Wangho, who ordered a latte.

After taking their orders, the waitress paused and started at them a moment longer before asking “Peanut?”

Wangho nodded. “Oh, um, I’m a big fan,” she started. Not again. They’d had unnaturally bad luck of late. “I’ve been to a few of your matches live, a lot of your plays are fantastic.”

“Thank you, but it’s nothing compared to _this_ guy,” Wangho commented, gesturing to Sanghyeok, the small smirk on his face let the other know that he wasn’t going to suffer alone.

The waitress looked over at him before recognition dawned, “Oh! Faker as well? What a surprise! Um wow, this is such a shock,” she said, blushing bright red and fraying the edges of her notebook with nervous fingers. “If you don’t find…that is…both of you here…”

Wangho was clearly becoming exasperated with the girl’s nervous murmuring. “We’re on a date!” he announced.

“Wangho!” Sanghyeok admonished, aghast.

The waitress was the color of a ripe tomato now. “Oh! Um… what… that is, I… I’ll hurry up with your orders and give you your privacy then! So sorry!” She practically fled the table, but almost immediately linked up with another waitress. The two of them stood by the cash register talking animatedly, and kept looking over at their table with stars in their eyes.

“Wow, it really does work like a charm.”

“You really shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not? It worked, didn’t it? I used to tell them that I was going to meet my girlfriend, but all they ever did was ask annoying questions or start crying. Well, the really annoying ones, anyway. This way they leave us alone straight away, it was honestly a genius move, hyung.”

Wangho-ya.”

The younger pro crossed his arms and sulked. “Fine, I won’t do it again.”

“Wangho is right, though. There were no hurt feelings,” Jaewan offered. “Except for mine, how dare she not recognize me?!”

“True, they almost seem… happy about it,” Sanghyeok said, ignoring the latter statement. “You’d think that they’d be more uspet rather than less, seeing as it implies that none of them would ever have a chance of their feelings being returned.”

“I think they’re probably happy _because_ of it, Sanghyeok,” Jaewan stated. “They’d probably much rather see you with Wangho than think that they were beaten out by another girl. Well, there’s that, and you two _do_ make a good couple. The fans typically like to see their heroes happy. And the excitement of the controversy is the icing on the cake.”

“Girls are _WEIRD_ , hyung,” Wangho muttered.

“I find myself agreeing,” he replied dazedly, then addressed Jaewan again. “But Wangho and I aren’t really going out, after all. It’s seriously getting out of hand.”

To his horror, his old friend just smiled knowingly at him. “Really, you don’t have to keep hiding these things from us, Sanghyeok. We know you’re human.”

If it were anyone else but Jaewan, he would probably still be convinced that they were still messing with him. But Jaewan wasn’t the sort of person to drag out a joke to that degree, especially not in private. As it was, he’d thought it was unusual that his friend had even alluded to it over the phone. That could only mean one thing: that his friend really, truly did believe that he and Wangho were dating.

But… if Jaewan thought it was true… did that mean that all of the rest of his friends hadn’t just been teasing him, but honestly believed it too?

It felt like a bucket of ice cold water had just been dumped over his head. As though sensing the problem, Wangho cut in. “He’s telling the truth. It really was just a one-off ploy to shake persistent fans. Well, twice-off now, I guess.”

Jaewan shook his head. “You two get so easily embarrassed. Relax, I’ll make sure Seunghoon and the others don’t tease you too much when we all meet up at the airport. But just trying to deny it more only eggs them on.”

Wangho and Sanghyeok exchanged a helpless look, before Wangho then just shrugged, obviously giving up.

To the elder, however, it was baffling. If it hadn’t just been a joke… why were all of his former teammates so eager to believe that he and Wangho were an item? He had originally been worried that his claim was so outrageous that it would be seen through instantly, yet everyone simply accepted it as though it were something they’d always seen coming. Why? Neither he nor Wangho – to the best of his knowledge – had given any indication in the past that they were even gay, much less attracted to each other.”

This was a big problem. His moment of panic almost two weeks ago… if they all really truly believed it like Jaewan did, how was he going to convince his friends that it really had just been a lie? Wangho’s uncaring nonchalance over the issue didn’t help their credibility either. Then again, the other was probably used to being teased by the others all the time anyway. It was hardly fair to fault him for not reacting.

He was feeling a bit foolish now, really, for not trying harder to clear up the issue in the first place. The whole idea seemed so ludicrous to him that the mere idea that his friends might have actually misunderstood the whole exchange hadn’t even crossed his mind. His former teammates were, ridiculous as the notion was, apparently convinced that his lie had been real, and he didn’t know how to convince them otherwise – especially since it had taken him this long to even realize that their congratulations and leading comments weren’t just jokes at his expense.

It wasn’t the sort of situation he’d ever been in before – of course, he typically didn't go around telling his fans lies, especially outrageous ones like that, so having to convince people that they _were_ lies wasn’t exactly something he had much experience in. What was he supposed to do?

As the conversation diverged, Sanghyeok forced himself to calm down. There wasn’t anything he could say to convince his friends, apparently, but they’d see it for themselves soon enough. They were going overseas for two weeks together – they’d all see firsthand that there really wasn’t anything going on between them, and the issue would be forgotten.

Of course, things never did work out that easily.


	4. Sleeping Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang flies to New York for their vacation, Sanghyeok and Wangho find themselves in an interesting sleeping arrangement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any mistakes are my own :)

Sanghyeok was first to arrive at the airport that Saturday. Wangho walked up behind him at their designated meeting place a few minutes later with his bags.

“Wangho,” he greeted cordially.

“Morning hyung~” Wangho yawned. “Are we the first to arrive?”

“It appears so. Ready to leave?”

“I’m ready for this vacation, I love visiting America.”

Sanghyeok noticed that the younger man was sporting dark bags under his eyes. “Are you well? You look tire-“

“Oh, look! Wangho and Sanghyeok arrived together!” Seunghoon hollered in their general direction as he arrived at the airport, cutting his question short.

“Seunghoon!” Jaewan whispered frantically. “What did I just tell you?!”

Sanghyeok pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d been secretly hoping – albeit foolishly – that by the time the weekend rolled around the others would have given up on that ridiculous belief, but apparently it had only lodged itself more firmly in their brains over time. Wangho merely rolled his eyes. Until they could find some other means to convince their friends, ignoring it seemed like the only option. And everyone would see for themselves that there was nothing to it soon enough. He’d just have to be patient.

One by one, the rest of their former teammates arrived. When Euijin got there, he immediately went up to Wangho. “Long time no see! And what’s this with not even bothering to call me when you’re in town?!” the larger man demanded, slinging a mock threatening arm around his shoulders.

“Sorry Euijin, I was busy.”

“A likely story. Busy with Sanghyeok-hyung, right?” What did you think you were doing, not telling your close friend about something like that?!”

“There’s nothing to tell. It’s not true.”

“Not true?! You were found out and now you think you can just lie about it?!”

“Hey, Sungu,” Wangho interrupted before the conversation could continue.

Sungu returned his greeting and greeted Sanghyeok as well. Sanghyeok dipped his head in greeting. He wasn’t expecting anything more than a nod in response, but to his surprise, Sungu beelined it over to him. While everyone else was engrossed in conversation, he muttered, “You’ll treat Wangho well, right.”

Sanghyeok blinked, surprised at the vague hint of threat in his voice. It wasn’t a question so much as a statement. Had Haneul just warned him about impure intentions? It confirmed his suspicions that Sungu had a soft spot for his fellow jungler, at least. He didn’t even have the chance to correct him, as he wandered off almost immediately, apparently content with having said his piece.

Junsik was the last to arrive. It was a weird moment, having the entire team together again, especially since it had been years now since they’d all played together.

“Okay everyone, let’s go.” Jaewan said, breaking the moment of silence.

After that, it was a swirl of chaos as everyone checked in their luggage, and dispersed to get food, use the restrooms, and wander around the terminal. Sanghyeok found himself drinking coffee and chatting with the people around him.

Once everyone boarded the plane an hour later, Sanghyeok found that his seatmate was Wangho, and idly wondered if his friends were still playing tricks on him, or if the gods were just having a chuckle at his expense. He didn’t dislike Wangho’s company… it just wasn’t going to be particularly easy to convince his friends that there really was nothing going on when they kept getting thrown together in such a manner.

Seemingly unaware of the situation, the jungler said, “You can have the window seat,” and yawned as he stowed his carry-on.

“I can swap seats with Euijin if you would like, so you guys can catch up during the flight?” Sanghyeok asked, knowing that the two of them had gone on a trip to Switzerland together.

Wangho’s gaze wandered over to where Euijin and Sungu were sitting across from them. Euijin was already messing around with Sungu in a voice loud enough that they could hear him pretty clearly from where they sat. “Nah, we have two whole weeks.”

They settled into their seats, with Junsik and Jaewan sitting in front of them. Shortly after takeoff, he retrieved a book he had stowed away to read, while Wangho fiddled around with the entertainment system, picking a show to start watching. Lunch came and went, and Sanghyeok resumed reading afterwards, though his eyelids started getting heavy. He reclined his seat, and despite the insistent rumble of the plane, he drifted off to sleep.

Waking up with a start, Sanghyeok almost dropped the book that had fallen into his lap. He reached for his glasses, and he glared at Junsik, who was leaning over the seat in front of him with his cell phone out, snapping a few photos. He had a wide smile on his face. Sanghyeok felt a weight on his arm, and after looking over discovered the source of Junisk’s mirth. Wangho had also fallen asleep, and his head was now resting against his shoulder.

It was tempting to wake him up, simply because he knew that his former teammates would use this as further evidence of a non-existent relationship. But...Wangho looked so peaceful, and he was probably exhausted after spending most of the past few weeks figuring out his free agency and making arrangements to play in the LPL - especially if those bags under his eyes were any indication.

Sighing, he turned his head away and resumed reading his book, leaving the sleeping Wangho as he was. His friends were currently convinced either way, so he might as well let Wangho get some rest. It was a long flight, after all.

They landed in New York early that evening, and Wangho had managed to sleep through the rest of the 14 hour flight. After they landed, Sanghyeok gently shook Wangho awake. “Wangho-ya, it’s time to get off the plane.”

Wangho let out a yawn as he stretched. “Wow, I can’t believe I slept that long, it’s normally really hard for me to fall asleep on flights. I guess I was just really tired.”   
  
Frowning, Sanghyeok said “are you sure you’re getting enough rest? It’s not healthy for you to be like this.”

Wangho held up his hands in surrender and said “Yes, yes, I know. Sorry hyung, I’ll be sure to get more rest.”

After picking up all their luggage, they hopped into a few taxis to get to their hotel. They’d all checked into the same hotel, planning on spending the next two weeks exploring the city and anything nearby before a few of them headed to Las Vegas for All Stars. 

Jaewan was handing out the key cards in the foyer - most of them too tired to bother doing it for themselves. “Okay, the hotel is a little overbooked, but we still got two three-person rooms. Both of those are on the same floor.” He handed Sanghyeok the last key “this one is a two-person room, it’s two floors above us, sorry.”

“Ooh la la!” Seunghoon exclaimed with a wink, before being sharply elbowed by Jaewan.

Sanghyeok felt his stomach sinking ominously. It wasn’t that he minded rooming with the younger pro, it was more that he expected his former teammates were putting them together again for the wrong reasons.

Still, Sanghyeok was too tired to make too much of a fuss about it, so he took the key cards, and asked “We’re meeting for breakfast tomorrow in the restaurant at 8?”

  
There was a jumbled chorus of agreement as everyone tiredly shuffled into the elevators. He wished the others good night as they got off on their floor, ignoring Seunghoon’s winks and Junsik’s sly glances, and continued up the next two floors with his companion.

He slid the key into the card slot by the door, and let out a yawn as he opened the door. They entered the dim room, and Wangho haphazardly put his bags into the closet by the door as Sanghyeok fumbled around for the light switch. At long last, he located it, flooding the dark room with light, and then he suddenly wished he hadn’t.

Sanghyeok knew he shouldn’t have let Jaewan organize the rooms, especially given the current circumstances. But this just hadn’t even been a situation that had even crossed his mind as something to be wary of.

There was only one bed.

Well, this was going to be awkward.

Wangho, apparently unbothered, walked over to the double bed and flopped down on it. “I think I should bump it up to two coffees now.”

“I honestly didn’t expect it to get out of control like this.”   
  
“It’s fine, they’ll get bored and believe us eventually.”

“What do you think we should do?” Sanghyeok asked, having no clue what the next step should be. Jaewan had mentioned that the hotel was overbooked, so it was unlikely they could ask for another room. 

Wangho shrugged from where he was sprawled. “It’s big enough, I don’t mind sharing. Unless...you spread out when you’re asleep?!”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Not going to steal the blanket from me?”

“No promises.”

Wangho pouted at him and hugged the blanket protectively. “I don’t want to sleep with you then.”   
  
Sanghyeok let out a laugh and said “alright fine, I won’t steal the blanket as long as you promise to take a shower every day. No compromises.” he added at the end when he saw Wangho about to protest about taking needless showers.

Wangho begrudgingly agreed, and walked over to his bag to start unpacking.

Sanghyeok wasn’t entirely comfortable with the arrangement. He hasn’t ever had to share his bed with anyone before.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts. It wasn’t going to be an issue, it was only on his mind because of his friends’ teasing. And besides, despite claiming that he had grown, Wangho was still very small by most standards, not that he’d be allowed to make that comment out loud.

“You can have the first,” Sanghyeok offered, although it was more of a threat. Nodding, Wangho stood with a yawn and dragged himself into the bathroom, and then came back out almost immediately to dig around his bag.

“There’s a bath!” Wangho explained excitedly when Sanghyeok eyed him curiously. He took out a bath salt he had packed just in case, and headed back into the bathroom.

“Don’t fall asleep in the tub,” Sanghyeok warned.

“I won’t be that careless, thanks dad.” Wangho replied sarcastically.

Half an hour later, Sanghyeok found himself knocking on the door regardless. When there was no answer, he let out a sigh and tested the handle. He was mildly relieved to find that his roommate had forgotten to lock it. Sure enough, Wangho ws still in the tub, head lolling to the side and his eyes were shut.

“Wangho-ya,” he called, trying to avert his eyes for modesty’s sake. He reached out to shake his shoulder, to no success. He went to the sink to fill up one of the glasses with cold water, and then dumped it onto Wangho’s head.

That woke him up. Wangho sputtered, and blinked sleepily. He looked around in Sanghyeok’s direction, and seemed to recognize him.

“Hyung? What are you doing here?”

“You fell asleep in the tub.”

“Ah, I guess I got careless after all. Sorry for taking so long,” he said, rising out of the water. Sanghyeok threw him a towel, trying to ignore the awkwardness, and Wangho’s apparent lack of modesty. Sanghyeok didn’t quite know why he had an odd feeling in his stomach, it’s not like Wangho had anything that he hadn’t seen before. They had changed in the same locker room before entering hot springs, but he didn’t bother analysing the situation. With his task complete, he exited the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

A few minutes later, Wangho emerged from the bathroom clad in a t-shirt and briefs, towelling his hair dry.

“Be careful not to catch a cold,” Sanghyeok said, not waiting for a reply before entering the bathroom himself.

Even though he was quick, when he emerged Wangho was already fast asleep, sprawled on top of the covers. Sighing, he shifted the younger under the covers, privately wondering how on earth he would manage in China when he seemed incapable of taking care of himself.

Tucking the covers in, Sanghyeok paused for a moment, taking in the sight. Wangho’s hair was tousled, and lips were slightly parted as he softly breathed in a gentle rhythm. Sanghyeok headed over to his own side of the bed, climbing in carefully to not disturb the other. Sanghyeok thought it would take a while to fall asleep, but the exhaustion from the long flight soon kicked in, and he was unconscious within minutes.


	5. The Vacation Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanghyeok wakes up late with Wangho clinging to his side, and the gang enjoy the first day of their vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive any mistakes in the text! Feel free to leave any feedback or comments below :)

When Sanghyeok awoke the next morning, he was confused as to why his right side was so warm. Fumbling with his left hand for his glasses on the bedside table, he looked down to see a mess of black hair. Ah, so that’s what happened. It appeared that Wangho had wound up moving right past the center of the bed throughout the night. 

He ran his fingers through Wangho’s hair. Even though he knew he ought to move and get out of bed, it was sort of hard to summon the will to do so. It was very comfortable, and it wasn’t like his friends were around to see them and take it the wrong way.

Wait...speaking of his friends…

Sanghyeok sat up and fumbled around for his phone. It was already 8:05am! He had been counting on the early night and jet lag to wake him up, so he hadn’t bothered setting an alarm. “Wangho-ya, wake up! We’re late.”

“Nnnnhmmmpy.” The jungler mumbled something inarticulately, and let out a whine at the loss of warmth from Sanghyeok as he jumped out of the covers and to the closet. Even though they were technically on holiday and there was no rush, Sanghyeok didn’t want to give their friends any more ammunition to tease him.

Sanghyeok washed up and changed in the bathroom, and emerged fifteen minutes later. Looking at the bed, he saw that Wangho hadn’t even managed to sit up. Sanghyeok could only see Wangho’s face, as Wangho had completely cocooned himself into the blanket. Sanghyeok let out a sigh, and walked over to the bed.

“Wangho-ya, we need to get up, everyone is waiting for us.”

“Right. Morning, I got it.” Letting out a yawn, Wangho dragged himself from the blanket and stumbled to the bathroom, pulling some clothes out of his bags as he did so.

Wangho somehow finished his morning routine in less than five minutes. Even so, they were at least twenty five minutes late by the time they made it to the foyer.

“Color me surprised, Wangho-ya and Sanghyeok-hyung are late!” Seunghoon half shouted as they arrived. “Up late, were you?” He walked over to Wangho and elbowed him in the sides. “You’re being such a bad influence on hyung, he would never be late before you two got together.”  
  
Sanghyeok could only barely resist the urge to cover his eyes. It was too early in the day for this.

Before Wangho could respond, Jaewan interjected. “Don’t worry about it, Haneul, Sungu, and Euijin still haven’t come downstairs.”

The remainder of their group entered from the elevators a few minutes later.

“Well, now that everyone’s here, should we get started?” Junsik suggested.

“Ah, yeah! The day’s wasting away!” Euijin suddenly announced, grabbing Wangho and Seunghoon and dragging them towards the hotel entrance. “Come on, let’s go sight-seeing! I can’t speak very good English, so you guys can be my translator.”

Sungu started to follow, hesitating when no one else moved. “Is everyone coming?”

“I was planning on going shopping for souvenirs today.” Jaewan said.

“What about you, Sanghyeok? Don’t you want to go with Wangho?”

“There’s no need,” he replied quickly. He was still finding it hard to fathom that his friends were honestly convinced that there was a romantic relationship between them, but reacting to it only seemed to validate their convictions rather than correct them. Sungu gave him an odd look, but didn’t press the issue.

“Come on, hyung, we’re in America! We should go sightseeing!” Haneul suggested.

“We can do that later! I have so many things I have to go buy.”

“Well, would you mind if I joined you and Sanghyeok?” Sungu asked Junsik.

“Go right ahead, Sungu.” Junsik welcomed him. “We’re just getting brunch though.” Sanghyeok didn’t remember agreeing to that, but it didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“I saw a nice looking diner on the way yesterday, I think it should suit everyone’s tastes. Haneul, will you be joining us?” Junsik asked.

Haneul nodded his consent.

So, the gathering splintered and everyone went their separate ways. It would have been nice to have the entire team do something together, but there would be plenty of time for that later in the trip.

“Heh, Euijin is so excited to see Wangho again. You’re not jealous, are you, Sanghyeok?” Junsik asked, his eyes slid to the side to stare at him.

Sanghyeok ignored the question, returning to acknowledge it with a response. “Where did you say the diner was?”

Junsik chuckled. “Got it, we’ll try and keep you guys together next time.”

The diner was only a few blocks away, and served good food. During the conversation, Junsik made vague remarks about Wangho at every available opportunity. Eventually, the mid laner found himself asking Haneul about _anything_ in a vain attempt to distract himself from the non-conversation Junsik was trying to have with him.

After enjoying a leisurely brunch, they wandered the streets for a while, checking out some of the stores before heading back to the hotel. Sanghyeok wanted to do some reading, and maybe even find some time to play some league. Junsik wandered off to do who knows what, and Haneul challenged him to a few 1v1s. After a while, Junsik returned from his wanderings and joined in.

At around five in the afternoon, the sight seeing group returned. Seunghoon and Euijin were engaging in another shouting match.

“Seunghoon, Euijin!” Sanghyeok barked out. “You’re being too noisy, and I’m trying to read.”

That was enough to bring the two of them to their senses. “Ah, hey everyone!” Euijin yelled cheerfully. “We’re back! Sorry for stealing him for the whole day, Sanghyeok,” he called, then turned to his friend with a grin on his face. “Heh, I won’t keep you away from your boyfriend any longer, Wangho.”

Wangho just deadpanned at him. “Idiot.” He wandered over anway. “Hi hyung, Junsik.”

“You brat, when did you stop calling me hyung.” Junsik said before making his voice pleasant. “Did you guys enjoy yourselves?”

“It was alright, we had to depend on Seunghoon for the English, so...yeah.”

“Oh, I think I see everyone else coming this way. Just in time, I think Jaewan made a reservation at a steakhouse tonight.” Junsik observed.

Everyone gathered in a loose circle, and after several minutes of aimless discussion, they agreed to change into some nicer clothes before heading over to the restaurant.

Wangho was already buttoning his shirt when Sanghyeok finally made his way back up to the room. “Hyung,” he greeted, even though they’d only just seen each other downstairs a few minutes ago.

“Wangho-ya, will you be using the bathroom?”

Wangho just shook his head, vaguely gesturing for him to go ahead.

The shower should have been refreshing, but Sanghyeok spent most of it wondering what exactly was bothering him so much. No answers were forthcoming, but at least the hot water had managed to melt away most of the stress from the day. They really had to dispel that rumor soon, so that it wouldn’t wind up ruining the entire holiday.

It was starting to feel like the only thing that would make them realize the truth would be time. Unless he and Wangho staged a fake break-up, but...knowing their acting skills, he couldn’t see either of them making that at all convincing.

So, in an attempt to speed things along, as he didn’t want to have to over think every interaction he had with his roommate over the holiday; when they went out to dinner, Sanghyeok made a deliberate point of sitting as far away from Wangho as possible. Wangho gave him an odd glance, but was distracted only a second later by Euijin whispering something into his ear. While he preferred sitting away from the edge of the table, he told himself that he would only need to make minor sacrifices for a few days, just long enough to dismiss his former teammates' crazy notion. Then, there wouldn’t be any need to worry about them misinterpreting a conversation between the two.

Euijin grinned at this friend and jibed, “Hey, Wangho-ya, shouldn’t you be sitting next to Sanghyeok? You know, now that you’re-”

“Shouldn’t you be sitting next to Seunghoon, then?” Wangho interrupted.

Euijin immediately spluttered. “What? Sit next to that guy? You’ve gotta be kidding!”

“What was that?! You trying to pick a fight after I translated for you all day?” Seunghoon yelled.

“Sorry, Haneul,” Wangho said, as he took a sip out of his drink. Haneul was currently seated in between the two, and would no doubt be caught in the crossfire.

Sanghyeok smiled to himself. It turns out, Wangho was a master of misdirection. He figured his own skills in that department weren’t that bad either, but when his main opponents were Junsik and Jaewan, it definitely made it harder to assess his own skills. Merely establishing some distance and acting normal ought to be enough to shake the misunderstanding once and for all. These kinds of problems did resolve themselves after all, or at least that was what Sanghyeok was repeating to himself.

Still, it really was starting to bug him. As embarrassing and awkward as this whole situation was, the response was really the thing that kept confusing him. Why did everyone believe it so quickly and easily? Why wasn’t anyone bothered? They all acted as though they’d expected this for years, and that it was the most natural thing in the world. Sure, they always had a bit of an abnormal relationship, they weren’t just teammates, or just friends, but it definitely never had _those_ elements to it, had it?

A waiter returned to their table to take their order, and Sanghyeok shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the weirdness of their relationship. Besides, Junsik was looking at him like he could read his mind, and as paranoid as it might sound, Sanghyeok didn’t want to take any chances.


	6. The Rumor Spreads Even Further

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanghyeok finds out that the press has found out about their "relationship", and Wangho confronts Sanghyeok about him avoiding him.

The second day of their holiday started off much like the first one did. Sanghyeok woke up with Wangho latched onto his side. They hadn’t made any concrete plans with the others yet, so he carefully got out of bed without waking his companion. It was a vacation after all, if Wangho wants to sleep in on his vacation, he should be allowed to.

It was a good thing he had gotten up too. The instant he got out of the shower, Junsik and Euijin barged into their room with Sungu in tow.

“Good morning,” Sanghyeok greeted, then asked, “Wait, how did you get in?”

Junsik held up the key card. “We got a spare.”

Sanghyeok couldn’t shake the suspicion that his friends had come barging in in hopes of finding them in the exact position they had been in not even fifteen minutes ago, especially if the phone in Junsik’s hand was any indication. He held out his hand for the key card expectantly and said “It’s rude not to knock.”

The marksman handed over the card with a calm smile, but Sanghyeok didn’t feel reassured. Somehow, he felt that Junsik was perfectly capable of getting into their room whenever he liked, key card or not.

“Sorry Sanghyeok, I wanted to come get Wangho to go out, but I forgot what room you guys were in,” Euijin apologized. “So I asked Sungu and then Junsik overheard and brought us up here…”

“No problem, Wangho is still sleeping though. Have fun waking him up.”

Euijin let out a groan and then walked over to the bed to try and rouse him.

“Did you two sleep well?” Junsik asked. Sanghyeok ignored him. “Let’s go get some breakfast.”

Right before leaving the room, they hear Wangho let out a whine “Hyunggg, leave me alone,” to which Euijin replied “Your boyfriend already left Wangho-ya, I still need you to translate for me.”

Mentally facepalming, Sanghyeok quickly ushered the rest of them out of the room.

They went down to breakfast, where Jaewan and Haneul were just finishing eating. Euijin must have succeeded at getting Wangho out of bed at some point, because when he got back to the hotel room, it was empty.

The others had dispersed to go sightseeing or do whatever, but Sanghyeok opted to have some alone time and catch up on some reading in the hotel room. For lunch, he wandered onto the street and into a nearby restaurant with a few foods he was fond of.

As soon as he sat down, an excited woman came running over to him. “Sanghyeok-nim! Hi!” She called out, waving enthusiastically.

He cringed slightly, hoping that the hollering didn’t alert any fans to his presence. His relaxing day would be completely ruined if he had to be dogged by another Insook. She quickly arrived at his table a bit out of breath. “What a surprise! What are you in town for?”

Thankfully, it wasn’t a fan this time. It was one of the LCK hostesses, Jeesun Park. “Ah, yes, hello. I’m just in town on a vacation with a few of my former teammates before All-Stars.”

“Oh, I see! Wow, it’s nice that you’ve all stayed friends.” She waved a waiter over and they placed their orders.

Their orders arrived, and Sanghyeok concentrated on his food while they chatted amicably about the upcoming event. About halfway through lunch, though, she gave him a sly wink and said, “Oh, and I just heard about you and Wangho, so congratulations are due!”

Oh no, not this again. “Wait...how did you find out about that?”

“You know how the rumour mill works, I found out from Coach Kkoma.” Surely his friends hadn’t called  _ him _ as well, had they? Didn’t they have any tact? “It’s all very romantic! Straight out of a movie, though I was heart-broken, of course.” she said with a grin.

“It isn’t true though,” Sanghyeok began, trying to explain. “It was just… a joke.”

She laughed. “If you say so. But you know, even if it’s being kept in confidence now, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the press finds out, if they haven’t already.”

Exasperated, Sanghyeok replied, “But the scandal… my career…” even though he’d worried about it initially, he’d honestly never thought he might have to try and convince  _ reporters _ that it was just a misunderstanding. It had already proven hard enough to convince his close friends!

Blinking, she put a finger to her lips in thought. “I honestly don’t think you’d have to worry about that. There’s always a few old folk who might be upset about it and treat you coldly, but they’re a dying breed these days. If anything, it might even help your career! It’s a sort of healthy controversy! Although I’m surprised you didn’t convince Wangho to stay in the LCK with you.”

Sanghyeok let out a sigh, and decided to ignore the last bit. “We’re going to be followed by paparazzi now?”

“Oh, don’t look so worried! You’ll find that once your secret has been exposed, they tend to lose interest. It becomes old news.”

While that was mildly reassuring, it was all a giant misunderstanding that was starting to spiral out of control. How long until he had calls from family members, demanding to know about his secret affair? “But you know… Wangho and I really aren’t… why won’t anyone believe me?”

Jeesun either didn’t hear him, or his words just didn’t register. After a few minutes of her trying to get some details out of him about the perceived ‘relationship’, he excused himself and fled back to the hotel, where he spent a good twenty minutes stressing about the situation. Eventually, he grabbed a book and just hoped that reading would clear his head. He ended up reading for the entire afternoon, until it started to get dark. No solutions to his dilemma had presented themselves at the end of it, but at least he felt a little better.

A few moments later, Wangho wandered into the room. “Hey, hyung. Junsik wants to play some horror game after dinner, do you want to join us?”

While the thought of seeing Wangho freak out again was fun, he was still trying to put some distance between them for now.

“I think I’ll pass, I have a lot of reading to catch up on.”

“You read too much hyung, it’s gonna make your eyesight worse.” Wangho teased.

“Not reading doesn’t seem to be saving your eyesight, so maybe you might as well start reading as well.” Sanghyeok teased back.

“Maybe I will,” Wangho pouted back slightly. “Do you have any recommendations for me?”

Quickly thinking about it, Sanghyeok gave him a few easy reads as recommendations. After chatting and joking around for a bit longer, Wangho asked him “are you sure that you don’t want to come with us hyung?”

Sanghyeok shook his head. “I really do have a lot of reading to catch up on.”

“It feels like...you’ve been avoiding me. Is it because of the whole us dating thing?”

Sanghyeok shook his head. “Even though that rumor has been going around, I haven’t been avoiding you. We’re talking right now.”

Wangho tilted his head. “What do you mean the rumor has been going around?”

Sanghyeok explained how he had bumped into Jeesun, and what she had said about the press finding out.

Wangho shrugged. “The press always do work so fast, it feels like they announce decisions I made before I even decide myself.”

“You don’t seem bothered by it at all.” Sanghyeok observed, somewhat surprised by the laid back reaction.

“Why are YOU so bothered by it, hyung? It was your idea, remember?”

“Because it’s not true!”

“So what if it was? Would you be okay with it then?” Wangho retorted.

“What?” Sanghyeok was thrown back by the question. “That’s not even relevant. I don’t like lying, and it’s practically a scandal!”

“What do you mean? It’s not like either of us have girlfriends that we’d be cheating on. At least I don’t….” Wangho said, eyeing Sanghyeok suspiciously.

“I don’t either, that’s why this whole thing happened in the first place.” Sanghyeok huffed.

“So no harm done then, right? The press will forget about it as soon as anything else happens.”

Sanghyeok sat down and let out a sigh. “In that case, I’m relieved it was you there. I can’t imagine how some of the others would have reacted.”

Wangho laughed. “That would have been funny, but I can’t see it. Would anyone believe that you’d go out with Seunghoon or Jaewan?”

“They were quite ready to believe that I’d go out with you.” Sanghyeok pointed out. That was what confused him the most about this whole thing. What was it about Wangho that made it so believable to everyone?

Wangho’s phone vibrated and lit up, and Wangho glanced over at it. “Looks like they’re ready to play the game now, I guess I’ll be heading out for now.”   
  
“Have a good time.” Sanghyeok said as Wangho walked out. The question lingered in the back of his mind. Why was it so believable? What had they done that could be misconstrued other than that one lie? What was he missing?


	7. Between The Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junsik infects Sanghyeok's mind as the gang does yoga.

After the third night, Sanghyeok had come to the conclusion that Wangho had the unfortunate habit of latching onto anything warm while he slept. It didn’t really help their already awkward position to be waking up like this.

Not that it really mattered. It wasn’t like the others could see them, although it sure felt like they could sometimes. Sanghyeok made his way out of the warm bed and had a long shower. Wangho was actually awake and sitting up when he got out of the bathroom, although he hadn’t managed to move past the bed yet.

“You’re up early today,” Sanghyeok observed.

“Jaewan got Seunghoon and I to do yoga with him,” came the sleepy reply.

Of course, Sanghyeok wasn’t sure how, but leave it to Jaewan to convince Wangho to participate in some early morning exercise.

“The bathroom’s free. I’m heading down to the lobby.” Sanghyeok said to him and headed out the door.

Jaewan, Haneul, and Seunghoon were already in the breakfast area when he arrived downstairs. Nodding a brief greeting as he entered, he gathered some food for himself and joined them at their table.

“Did you sleep well, hyung?” Haneul asked him cheerily.

“Yeah, I did. How was the game last night?”

Haneul pouted and went on a tirade about how he would never let Junsik convince him to do anything like that ever again.

“Where’s Wangho?” Seunghoon asked.

“He’s probably still in our room, he was getting ready when I left.”

“Well he better hurry, or he won’t be able to get breakfast before yoga.” Jaewan said. “It’s just upstairs in the hotel gym, do you want to join us Sanghyeok?”

“Maybe later in the week,” he replied noncommittally. “I was just going to go sightsee a bit today.”

“I’ll also pass, Wangho asked me to do a couple things for him while you guys were at yoga.” Haneul sighed.

“Well, we’re going to head up to the gym first then. Could you let Wangho know where we are when he comes down?”

Sanghyeok nodded his consent, and Jaewan dragged Seunghoon away towards the elevator.

“What did he ask you to do?” Sanghyeok asked curiously, turning back to Haneul.

“He asked me to go to a library to see if they had a couple books in Korean because he didn’t want to pay for them, that cheap bastard.”

“What books were they?” Sanghyeok asked, and after Haneul checked his phone for the titles, Sanghyeok was pretty shocked that the other pro had acted on his suggestion already.

“Do you want to go together? I’m pretty familiar with those titles, so we can get them from a bookstore too if needed.”

“Sure, I’m honestly surprised he didn’t ask you to do it initially anyway. Haven’t you ever heard of doing nice things for your lover?” Haneul teased him.

The previously charitable thoughts Sanghyeok had been having vanished at that question. How much longer would it take his friends to figure it out?

The thought occupied Sanghyeok even after Wangho came down, shoved down a banana, and ran off to the gym. His friends’ reactions really were a mystery. True they hung out relatively often, and the younger had a tendency to stick to his side at international events, but that made perfect sense since they were usually some of the few attendees who spoke fluent Korean. Any way he looked at it, their relationship couldn’t be construed as anything other than that of old friends, even though sometimes Sanghyeok wasn’t quite certain what to call their odd relationship himself. Just thinking about it was a little distressing.

It wasn’t something he normally dwelled on, and his inability to label their relationship as either friendship or professional rivalry was mildly irritating. Still, it definitely wasn’t romantic, Sanghyeok was sure. They hardly went around holding hands, or eating at fancy restaurants alone or anything like that.

It was tempting to ask Haneul about it, but he dismissed the matter for the time being. He could always ask later.

Sanghyeok and Haneul went to a nearby bookstore after failing at a nearby library, and Sanghyeok ended up deciding to buy a copy of one of the books he had recommended as a gift for Wangho. They made it back to the hotel rather soon, right in the middle of their friends yoga session. They decided to go and watch for a good laugh, and as they got there, they bumped into Junsik, who seemed to have had a similar idea.

“Hey, Sanghyeok, Wangho is quite fit, isn’t he?” Junsik remarked, from where he stood beside him.

Sanghyeok nodded in agreement. “Well, he does work out regularly, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, it must be useful… to have that sort of stamina.”

Sanghyeok didn’t quite see where Junsik was going with this. “Yeah, I mean it can never really be a bad thing I suppose.”

Junsik just smiled at him. Well, Junsik was nearly always sporting a shit-eating smile, but his grin became a little wider.

They watched them go through a few more positions, before Junsik commented again, “Wangho makes awfully cute grunts, don’t you think? It certainly stirs up the imagination.”

Sanghyeok choked. Junsik had been making thinly disguised comments a couple days ago, but was he really implying…

"He really is quite attractive. Especially when he’s all stretched out like that. He must be very flexible."

“Junsik.” The mid laner was certain he must be bright red.

“He certainly doesn’t let his height disadvantage stop him.”

Relieved that the conversation seemed to be turning back towards relatively normal, Sanghyeok just nodded in agreement. “Though, he isn’t that much shorter.”

“Just the right height, wouldn’t you say, Sanghyeok?”

Then again, it was Junsik. You could never be certain when you were safe. “Junsik.”

Ignoring him, the marksman continued. “And those shorts really do make his legs look longer, don’t they?”

“Junsik, that’s totally inappropriate.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that you two weren’t that comfortable yet. It’s just that I can’t imagine two healthy young men such as yourselves being able to keep your hands-”

Junsik was suddenly interrupted by the instructor calling the session to an end.

“How did you find yoga?” Sanghyeok asked, as their friends walked over.

“It was actually pretty fun,” Wangho said, between his heavy breaths.

While their friends chatted about the possibility of doing it again, Junsik leaned over to Sanghyeok.

“Wow, Wangho sure is panting hard,” he whispered next to Sanghyeok’s ear, not quite loud enough for anyone but him to hear.

“Junsik!”

“What?” he asked innocently.

Everyone looked over at him, and Sanghyeok found himself unable to reprimand his friend without having to explain the reasons why. “Never mind.”

Wangho was panting hard, though, and now that Junsik had planted the suggestion in his head, it was making Sanghyeok feel distinctly uncomfortable. It was odd, thinking of one of his former teammates in such a manner. He handed Wangho a water bottle, in hopes that it would help.

“Thanks, hyung,” Wangho said breathily, which did nothing to dispel the images that were now plaguing his mind. Instead of drinking it though, Wangho closed his eyes and promptly dumped some of the water over his head, causing small droplets of water to trickle down his neck and chin, and soak most of his shirt that in turn clung to his body, outlining the younger’s petite form. Sanghyeok found himself swallowing and forcefully tearing his eyes away, not wanting his roommate to catch him staring.

What was wrong with him? Curse Junsik, for forcing him to think of his former jungler in such a way.

He’d never thought that he was gay, but it appeared from the effect this was having on him, he might have to re-examine that stance too.

No, it was just Junsik playing tricks on him. He shook his head briefly as though to dispel the images within.

“Were you still planning on going sightseeing today?” Wangho asked him, as he wrapped a towel around his head and looked up at him.

“Do you want your day now?” Sanghyeok asked in sudden recollection. He saw Junsik perk up at that, for some reason out of the corner of his eye. “I can get you your coffee too.” For all the trouble it had caused, he DID still owe Wangho for going along with his initial lie after all.

After thinking about it for a bit, Wangho said “No, I think I might hold it in reserve for now.”

Sanghyeok should have known. His fellow pro often called him out at completely random times, heaven forbid that he asked for it when it suited the other party. “You’ll at least not ask for it during a game day, right?”

His companion nodded in agreement, and Sanghyeok sighed in relief. He made sure to steer clear of staring at the drops of water trickling down the other’s neck.  
  
“Hey, hyung?”

“Yeah?” Sanghyeok replied, forcing his eyes not to travel down.

“Why does Junsik keep winking at me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long time between chapters, it's been a bit hard recently getting my thoughts down, and getting my wording decent enough. I'm writing this bit right before Day 3 of the Play In Stage, so let's all cheer for LGD today!

**Author's Note:**

> Really appreciate any comments/feedback any of you guys have, thanks for reading!


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